Last Stop
by Under8000
Summary: This is a RaditzxLaunch one-shot that I wrote for a friend on DA. Raditz lands on Earth only to find out that his ship didn't land as gracefully as he did. Once on the planet, he runs into some unexpected company. Who is this odd woman? Why is there another woman? Do they all wear the same clothing? Do they all have the same names? What the hell is going on? T for language. AU


Something had gone terribly wrong. The Saiyan was forced awake when his face slammed into the glass and metal door of his pod. He cursed as he instinctively brought his hand up to clench the bridge of his already swelling nose. Alarms blared in his ears and smoke filled his eyes, lungs, and ship.

"What the fuck happened," he shouted as he reached for the control panel.

When he looked down at the screen, he could see that the ship had been damaged. The alarm kept up and caused his anxiety to spike, until it was broken by a voice. "Now exiting asteroid field. Planet Earth is an hour away."

Logically, the Saiyan realized that he would need to repair his ship once he landed. Then he realized that his scouter had been knocked from his face. With a quick look around he determined that it had landed at his feet. "Tch, stupid piece of junk."

With a quick movement, his tail uncurled from around his waist, dipped down, and brought the device up to his waiting hand. When he inspected it, he realized that it had been damaged as well. "Of fucking course! Not only will I have to fix this piece of junk, now I have to fix my damned scouter too. It won't even turn on."

With little to else to do for the remaining hour, the warrior attempted to repair his damaged scouter. Unfortunately for him, he was not skilled with electronics, not like his father had been.

"Should've paid more attention to what the old man was doing all that time. Fuck." He tossed the busted device into a storage compartment nearby.

Just as he closed his eyes to relax, he heard a tone and then the voice from before. "Entering Earth's atmosphere. Five minutes until touchdown. Prepare for landing."

With a roll of his eyes, he sat up and looked down at the planet below him. He was shocked to see all of the blue and green. "Huh, too bad Kakarot destroyed most of everything here. This place looks like it could have been halfway decent."

When the warrior sat back, a distress beacon went off and then his vessel jerked sideways. He gripped the handles of his seat and felt adrenaline pump through his veins. The siren screamed in his ears once again, attempting to alert him that something was terribly wrong.

The disembodied voice came from the speakers on the sides of his head. "Due to damage caused to the ship, you may experience a harsher landing than usual. Prepare for collision with Planet Earth. To ensure your safety, extra padding will be provided."

"Collision?" He snapped, just before he was surrounded by an odd foamy substance. The more he squirmed, the harder it became to move. "F-fuck!"

The Saiyan winced as he struggled, but eventually a bright light before him grabbed his attention. When he looked up, he could see that his ship was engulfed in flames. "No way!"

Logically, he knew that there would be nothing that he could do to stop the process, especially since he was immobilized.

The pod sped towards the planet at an alarming rate and the inside of the vessel began to heat up. Sweat broke out on the warrior's forehead and slowly rolled down the sides of his face. "If this keeps up, I'll cook to death before I die in this damned collision!"

The ground was approaching, and fast. The alarm blared, the control screen cracked, and the numbers on the gauges began to tick out of control. It was now obvious that his ship would be demolished if he didn't break out and stop it himself.

Using every ounce of his strength, the Saiyan pressed forward. He could hear the hardened foam crack from the pressure he placed upon it. After a few seconds, it gave way and shattered to pieces around him. He was relieved to be able to move, but there was no time for him to rejoice.

Once out of his prison, he slammed a button to open the door on his pod. The hatch slowly opened; just as it did, flames shot in and nearly burned the man to a crisp. He winced, leapt out, and then stopped himself from falling further with his ki.

The Saiyan warrior panted. He was glad to be out of that flaming ball of metal. He no longer heard the wailing of the alarm, no longer felt constricted and anxious. However, he did have a new problem: his ship was still hurtling toward the planet, and towards its ultimate destruction.

After he composed himself, he heard a loud noise beneath him. "What the hell was that?"

When he looked down, he realized just what the ruckus was. The pod had slammed into the Earth and left a large crater. With a groan, the long haired man slowly glided down to the crash site to inspect the damage. Truthfully, he hadn't realized just how close he had been to the surface when he jumped out. He felt lucky that he escaped when he did, although he wasn't very happy about the state of his ship.

Once on the ground, he could see that the vessel would need a lot of repairs before he could even get his communications back up and running. "Great, this is just my luck! Wonder if my scouter is still in one piece at least."

Standing under the sun, he realized this was the first time he had felt natural light upon his skin in a long time. The Saiyan warrior, called Raditz, stood at six feet six inches and had hair that cascaded down his back and all the way to his calves.

Raditz reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small remote. He pressed it and heard the ship whir a few times before the door opened completely. He was shocked that the hatch still worked, but he was glad that he didn't have to pry it open.

Once inside of the pod, Raditz grabbed his scouter and checked it over. The small device was still not working, but he thought he could figure out how to get it going again.

"Hm, I seem to be in a rural area. I suppose that's a good thing though, I don't need any more issues right now. Hopefully, Kakarot was given a scouter and can get a read on me. Maybe I won't have to locate him at all."

As Raditz made his way out of the crater, he began to think about food and a place to sleep until he could figure out a plan of attack. He rubbed his face, scratched the back of his head, and finally sighed. "This sucks, just my luck that all of this would happen to me. I blame Vegeta."

The Saiyan realized that he was in a field, and not far away there was a dense forest. Perhaps there would be something for him to hunt. When he thought about food, his stomach rumbled in response. "Augh… Fine, I'll go find food."

The woods teemed with life, most of which was unheard and hidden from the naked eye. Luckily for the trained warrior, he didn't need to see or even hear the wildlife; his sense of smell was good enough all by itself.

Raditz trekked deeper in to find a larger meal. Logically he knew that there had to be something left to eat on this planet. He moved silently, despite his size and weight.

All of a sudden, he heard an odd noise, and smelled something living. He wrinkled his nose and sniffed harder to figure out in what direction the creature was located. Once he moved further in, he saw the beast. It wasn't as big as he had hoped, and it was making an odd snorting noise.

After a moment of staring at it, the beast caught sight of him and started. Raditz chuckled and followed after the stout thing. Although he didn't expect it to be quite as fast as it was.

The boar ran off through some thicker brush and out of sight, with the large warrior chasing after. Once Raditz leapt over the bushes, he stopped dead in his tracks. The earth beneath him had changed; it was no longer spongy and littered with leaves and twigs. Instead, the ground was hard and smelled of an odd chemical that made his nose crinkle up with disgust.

Just then, he remembered his lunch had gotten away and he became aggravated again. "Fuck me…"

An odd, loud noise suddenly drew his attention away from his current predicament. When he looked in the direction that the sound came from, he felt confused at what he saw: a small craft with a blond haired woman inside speeding toward him.

Raditz turned toward the racket to get a better understanding of what was happening. Just as he did so, the woman jerked the steering wheel to avoid hitting him. The vehicle swerved off into the brush and slammed into the base of a tree.

He wasn't sure why he did it, but Raditz flew over and yanked the woman out just before the collision, then set her down in the middle of the road.

"That was close! What did you do that for," he asked.

The blond haired, green-eyed woman swung around and got in Raditz' face. "What the heck is your problem, bub? You made me crash my wheels and now those men are gonna catch up to me!"

Just as the Saiyan opened his mouth to respond, several vehicles surrounded the two of them. Each car was stuffed to the brim with men holding guns, some of which were already aimed at them.

"Great, just great! Look at what you got us into. My guns were in that hunk of junk too." The female put her hands on her hips and glared up at Raditz, who just looked back at her with a confused expression on his face.

While Raditz and the blond argued, several of the armed men exited their vehicles and glared menacingly at the two. One man in particular, who wore a suit and tie, stepped closer before he cleared his throat.

"Well, Launch, I'm glad we finally caught up to you. Did you really think you could steal from us and get away with it?"

Launch rolled her eyes and laughed before she leveled her gaze on the suited man. "I've stolen from worse guys than you! I honestly thought that I would've been miles ahead by now, I've got to say that I'm impressed ya even caught up to me!"

Raditz eyed the small woman as if she were crazy, but decided to stay quiet for the moment. Truthfully, he didn't know why he bothered saving her, or stayed for the rest of the conversation. Suddenly, a thought dawned on him: _'Why the hell are these people still alive? Kakarot should have taken care of this entire planet by now.'_

A loud bang drew Raditz from his own mind, and just in time too. He looked over at Launch and noticed a piece of metal heading right for her. When he saw that she wasn't moving out of the way, he reached out and plucked the object from the air.

"Woah, why didn't you move? That probably would have hurt you. What is this anyway?" Raditz held out the freshly fired bullet in front of everyone.

All of the men and Launch stared in shock at the Saiyan. Then the leader shook his head in amazement. "I-I don't know how you did that, but enough games! Fire at will, men! Take em both out."

The highly trained Saiyan warrior assessed the situation that was unfolding around him before he quickly moved to take out every last one of the offenders. In the blink of an eye, Raditz and Launch were the only two left standing.

"Wh-what the heck just happened? How did you do that?" Launch referred to the pile of bodies before them.

"Tch, yeah. What of it? I can't stand it when warriors don't fight fair. What were those odd weapons anyways? Although to be honest the more I look at these guys, they don't look much like true warriors, regardless of the weapons." Raditz dropped several bullets to the ground.

"Wow. Hey, you seem to be pretty useful! How's about I hang around you a while? At least until I get the rest of these goons off my back. What do ya say, pal?" Launch leaned forward and gave him a wide grin.

Raditz looked down at her and thought over his current situation. He was without shelter, food, water, and had no idea where he was. At the very least, if he kept her around, she would be useful for 'company'.

He considered the woman's offer for a moment, then shrugged and walked away. "Yeah, sure, but you'll be doing the cooking! I won't get stuck as the cook, again."

Launch stared at the man's backside as he walked away, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. "What the hell is that?" She pointed at the long, fuzzy appendage that protruded from his bottom.

"Huh? Oh, my tail? What do you mean? It's just a tai-" He stopped speaking and looked her over. Realization smacked him in the face when he noticed she was completely tailless. "Huh, I guess people on this planet don't have tails. Odd."

"Say what? On this planet? What exactly is your game, big guy? You really expect me to believe that you're from another planet, that you're an alien?" Launch glared as she challenged him.

Raditz wasn't certain how to answer her question, so he shrugged and walked away again. "Maybe I am."

"That is not an answer, bub! You've got to be an alien, why else would you say 'this planet'? And, why would you have a tail? Plus, there is that hair of yours." Launch followed after him as she spoke.

Raditz rolled his eyes and began to look for something to eat. Truthfully, he didn't want to bother answering her questions, especially when he had some of his own. The skilled warrior began to sniff the air.

"All right, that! No human sniffs about like that… The gig is up. Who and what are you exactly?" Launch folded her arms across her chest, jutted out one hip, then gave him a judgement-filled glare.

With another roll of his eyes, he sighed and turned back to face her. "If you don't quit blabbing, you'll scare off all of the food! Listen, my name is Raditz. All right? Now let me catch us something to eat. Why don't you go see if you can salvage anything from your vehicle."

The blond stared at him for a moment before she grumbled and wandered off to check her car. Once she looked back, she noticed that Raditz was still watching her. She turned red, but kept walking, despite wishing to ask more questions.

After she left, Raditz breathed a sigh of relief. He had to admit that she was pretty, but _boy_ was she obnoxious. "She's like a female Vegeta, just less hitty… I really can't escape that jerk, can I?" He grumbled as he began to search for viable things to eat.

Once at the vehicle, Launch rummaged through the rubble for anything that could be of use. After a moment, she found some Dynocaps that she had originally swiped from those goons, still in their container. She popped the case open and examined what was inside. "Great, no damned transportation. Oh hey, at least there's a house in here. I wonder if it's stocked up."

Launch snapped the case closed, tucked it into her pocket, and turned back to the wooded area that she had just come from. Behind her, the car was still smoking enough to get into her eyes and nose. "I wonder if Tail Boy has anything worth stealing? He didn't look like he ha-ha-haaaacho!"

POOF!

As if a magical spell had been cast upon her, she suddenly transformed. Now a blue-haired, dark-eyed girl stood exactly where the blond had. She looked around for a moment, confused as to where she was and how she got here. "Huh? What happened?"

After a moment, Raditz walked up, carrying a large, dead boar. "So... I got us food, I'll just use my k- Who are you? Where did the blond go?" He looked around, confusion plain on his face.

The blue-haired girl stared over at him before tilting her head to one side. She had never seen such a tall and handsome man before, not to mention his hair. "Oh, I don't know, mister. I haven't seen anyone around here, except you."

Raditz arched one brow and looked her over; he thought it odd that she wore the exact same clothing as the previous woman. She even had a similar hairstyle, with the exception of the color. He had never seen a person with blue hair before. The closest he could think of was Zarbon, and that made him shudder. "Well, you're wearing the same clothes as she was, but you do sound different. You even smell different."

Launch looked down at her clothing and thought for a moment. "Oh, well isn't that odd?" She smiled at him and blinked a few times. "Oh! I'm Launch, it's nice to meet you." She bowed to him.

Now he knew that either he or she had gone completely crazy, this planet was very odd, or both. "Yeah. Um, does everyone on your planet have the same name and wear the same clothing?"

"Well, there are a lot of people who share names, but there are also clothing styles that are exceedingly popular. Why?" Launch tilted her head to the other side.

"Know what, never mind. Why don't we just get going? You are coming with me, right? I mean, I do need someone to cook for me after all."

Launch smiled a bit and wandered over next to him. "All right, but um, where are we going? And why did you hurt that boar?" She looked upon the dead creature, sadness filling her eyes.

The hardened Saiyan warrior did not understand her question. "For food, why else would I kill it? I mean, it does have fur, but I've no need for it. Also, we'll be heading back to the field just beyond these damned trees."

"Oh, that makes sense. I am hungry and I love fields, most of the time they have flowers." She smiled up at him, gave a curt nod, and followed his lead.

Raditz sighed and lead the way; he didn't understand what had happened or why, but he did know that his stomach was screaming at him.

Once out in the field, Raditz laid the boar down then stretched his back. He couldn't help but feel as if his trip to this planet was a giant waste of time. When he looked down at the creature he had killed, he grimaced. "We forgot wood for a fire. I suppose I could always use my k-"

"Oh, I have Dynocaps! I didn't know that these were in my pocket, how silly of me." As if she were a magician, she suddenly caused an entire building to appear before them in a puff of smoke. "We can use the stove inside to cook the meat up. There should also be some rice and hopefully veggies!"

The sudden action caused Raditz to bounce backward and take a defensive stance, in case of an attack. His tail unraveled from around his waist, puffed up, and whipped around from anticipation.

"What the hell did you just do," he hissed.

Launch looked over at him with confusion etched across her face. "What do you mean? It's a Dynocap, silly! Hav- What's that?" She gestured toward his tail with curiosity.

Raditz grunted and quickly rewrapped the fuzzy appendage. "That's none of your concern! Now, explain where this dwelling came from, right now." He approached the uncapsuled house with caution.

"It's a Dynocap. You've never heard of capsules? They are pretty useful for transporting large things like houses, vehicles, or just everyday items!" She closed the case and pushed it back into her pocket for safekeeping.

After he examined the dome-shaped dwelling, Raditz huffed and folded his arms across his chest. "All right, you go in first then. If this is a trap, you'll trigger it and I will be safe." He picked the boar back up and watched her closely.

Without hesitating, Launch opened the entrance and walked through the threshold of the house. "Okay, I'm inside. You should come in too, so we can cook the piggy." She poked her head of the doorway to peek at him.

"Um, yeah, fine." Raditz entered the house, but not without some difficulty. He had to duck down and squeeze through the doorframe. "Who designs these things? Why was it made so damned small?'

The petite female smiled up at him before giggling and reaching for the boar. "How about we cook this piggy up? I bet you're hungry."

The Saiyan side-eyed her, wondering about her intentions and if she could even lift the creature that he held. Without warning, he dropped the beast into her arms and watched to see if she would struggle. "Here."

Launch took the boar, turned and headed for the kitchen. She showed no signs that the pig was too heavy for her, and that concerned Raditz.

"I'll get started on the food right away, why don't you relax! There is beer in the refrigerator and I'm sure that there are snacks in the cupboards."

Raditz scrunched his nose up. He wasn't quite sure what a beer was, but he figured it had to be some sort of beverage. He wandered around the small domicile and eventually ended up in the kitchen along with her. Without saying anything, he began to rummage through the cold box and grabbed out a small - to him - bottle of liquid.

"Is this that 'beer' you were speaking of? Does it taste good," he said as he gestured toward the bottle in his hand.

Launch looked back to see what he was referencing and gave him a solid nod. "Yep! I like the taste, personally." She went right back to her prep-work and cooking.

Raditz eyed her for a moment before he popped the bottle open with his thumb and took a swig. His eyes widened at the flavor that assailed his tongue. "Wow, it's actually good, I was expecting it to taste like the swill on FP-79." He took another sip of the cold beverage and smiled.

Without any regards to Launch, he began to raid the cupboards for snacks, all the while carrying a six pack of beer along with him. It wasn't long before he planted himself down on the couch and was eating everything that he could find. "Man, these potato cheeps are good! Funny, I used to know someone named Potato…"

The two continued to do their own things for a while, then Launch came into the living room to find Raditz fast asleep. She watched him for a moment before she lightly shook him.

"Mister Raditz, it's time to eat dinner." Launch spoke in a soft tone, so that she wouldn't startle him.

Raditz' eyes fluttered open at the sound of her voice and the light jostle she gave him. He cleared his throat and sat up, attempting to regain his composure. "I'm awake, I just closed my eyes to meditate. But I'm done now, bring me a plate."

The bluenette nodded and wandered back into the kitchen where the food resided. Soon enough she returned with a large plate filled with succulent meat, rice, vegetables, and gravy poured on top. "Here you are, I sure hope you enjoy this!"

"Well, it certainly looks and smells good, but right about now I'd eat just about anything. I'm sure it'll do." Raditz wasted no time digging into the food. Much to his surprise, it was absolutely delicious. So he went back for seconds, then thirds, and finally fourths. He wasn't a complete animal however, he made sure that he left enough food for Launch to eat her fill, not that she ate much.

As the night went on, the two said very little to each other. Launch spent most of her time cleaning up the mess from supper and Raditz became increasingly fascinated with the television. "There are so many stations! Back on FP-79, there were like five of em, but there's like five hundred here. How do you decide what to watch?"

In the kitchen, Launch finished wiping everything down and made up a fruit and veggie platter for the odd man that she had just met. She wandered into the living room and set the food down on the coffee table. "If you're still hungry, feel free to eat these. Fruits and vegetables are the healthiest snack, after all."

"Fruits and what? Vegetables? Wait wait, okay. So you're telling me that these are called VEGETAbles? What's this one's name?" He pointed to a stalk of broccoli.

"Broccoli, and that's cauliflower, carrots, sliced cucumbers, peas, and radishes. Funny, that last one sounds like your name!" She giggled and sat down beside him.

"Radish? Carrots? Are you for real right now? You do realize that I could vaporize you in a second! How dare you mock me?" The Saiyan was losing his temper, and quickly.

"Mock you? What do you mean?" Launch gave him a confused expression, but unfortunately for her, it just served to further piss him off.

Without warning, Raditz grabbed the underside of the coffee table and flipped it upward, causing all the food and beverage to spill everywhere. He then headed for the door in a rage. Not once did he look back or concern himself with how she might feel. "Screw this!"

Once outside, Raditz took to the sky. He wanted to find a nice, peaceful spot to wind down and really think about what had happened.

Launch remained behind, a bit fearful at his outburst. She looked around at the mess and decided that it wasn't going to clean itself up. She got down on her hands and knees and began to gather the food. "I feel just awful that I made him so upset, I sure do hope he comes back so I can apologize."

Once he was far enough away from the tiny domicile with the odd blue-haired woman, Raditz set down in a meadow to relax. He caught sight of the moon and he was in awe over it. "Wow, I haven't seen an actual moon in well over a year. Can't believe how beautiful it is here."

Raditz lay in the grass and let the wind roll over him. He listened to the crickets chirp and the creatures around him come to life. It felt like an eternity since he had relaxed on the surface of a planet such as this, it almost didn't seem real.

Part of the hardened warrior wondered when reality would set in and take him back to that harsh lifestyle that he led. He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes; temptation crept up on him, silent voices beckoning him to live the life of luxury and safety.

Soon enough, a creature landed on Raditz' face and startled him. Without any hesitance, he whipped it off and sat upright. His heart felt as if it had skipped a beat.

"Huh, I must have fallen asleep. I should probably get back before she worries herself into a fit."

Raditz stood, stretched, then took to the sky. He relished the feeling of the cool night air whipping through his hair. Usually, he was in battle and didn't get to appreciate such small things. So he flew at a leisurely speed while he made his way back toward the house.

Just as the Saiyan was about to touch down, he noticed a group of people just outside of the domicile. He arched a brow and scanned the crowd, wondering what was going on. Soon enough, he spotted the blond from earlier; she was bound and struggling.

"You obviously don't know who you're messin with! If ya don't let me go, you're really going to regret it. I've got back up on the way as we speak!" She kicked her feet, to no avail.

"Yeah yeah, Launch, we know you're a loner. We've been watching you for a while and we haven't seen that bald man and kid for months now. So, why don't you just keep your mouth shut for once? The boss will be here soon enough." A stout man with way too much weight on his frame leered at the blond in a lecherous manner.

Raditz recognized that look. He had seen many men wear it, including himself, but now wasn't the time for a trip down memory lane. He landed not far away from the group of men, drawing their attention.

"Well, what's this? A party? How did you know that it was my birthday?" He approached them, wearing a grin.

Launch looked up and saw that Raditz had returned, although she wasn't sure where he had even gotten off to in the first place. "Hey! Tall, spiky, and handsome, where did ya go? I thought we really had something going on." She smirked, but was quickly silenced by a harsh slap to the face.

The pseudo ringleader grinned as he shook his hand. "Heh, not sure if that hurt you or me more, girly."

Suddenly, his men gasped and backed away. The one holding Launch released her, allowing her to run away, leaving their fearless leader to face Raditz.

"Hey, what the heck is your problem? You never seen a man hit a woman before? Y'alls have fathers!"

"Funny, if you think slapping her hurt, just wait till I slap you, piggy. I didn't think boars could stand on two legs, but I did know that they stunk to high hell! Interesting what you learn on the Animal Planet, isn't it?"

Without hesitation, Raditz unraveled his tail, spun himself in a hasty circle, and slapped the man as hard as he could with his fuzzy appendage, sending him flying.

The Saiyan landed gracefully with his arms folded across his chest and smirked. "Wow, he did not go as far as I thought he would. Must be heavier than I had anticipated."

The rest of the men stared in both confusion and fear as they wondered whether or not to run. Just as they turned tail to save themselves, another vehicle approached, all shiny and black.

After a moment, a tall man in a clean white suit stepped out of the vehicle. He had a cigar in his mouth and an earpiece on. He seemed to be talking to someone, and acted very casual and nonchalant. "No, I said I wanted him taken care of, not 'taken care of'. Get it straight, will you? Now I've got to go, I have a date with a hot and feisty blond." With that he removed the device from his head and handed it to a goon standing beside him.

"Well, this is quite the surprise, isn't it? Seems like blondy here has a bodyguard after all. That's good to know, but uh, I would scram if I were you, buddy."

"I'm not your buddy and I certainly ain't leaving. I was actually just about to suggest that you lot do the same, but I guess we're just not going to see eye to eye, are we?" Raditz allowed his tail to freely sway back and forth in long, lazy arches.

Launch gritted her teeth. She hated to be ignored, but at the moment there wasn't much that she could do, since her hands were still tied. She winked at Raditz, then took a step back to let him deal with the situation. "You're gunna to regret messing with this big guy. He's not human."

"Really, Launch? I bet. Well, regardless of who or what he is, he's dead meat." The tall, suited man removed his sunglasses, pocketed them and stared Raditz down. "Not that this is going to matter in a few moments, but my name is Mr. Black. And you are?"

Raditz rolled his eyes; he hated the talking portion of a fight, unless it was him doing the talking. Without warning he teleported directly in front of the tall man, then gave him a wicked smirk.

"I'm Raditz, and you're dead." The Saiyan cocked his arm back, then slammed it forward, sending Mr. Black flying backward. Blood spouted from his shattered nose as he landed hard, staining his pristine suit.

"I suggest you leave before the rest of you get hurt," Raditz chuckled, "although I wouldn't mind the exercise."

The gaggle of men stared for a moment, then rushed to their boss's side, determined to gather him up and leave. They were shocked to see him still alive, just badly injured. Mr. Black couldn't speak, but pointed toward the vehicle that he had originally arrived in.

Raditz rolled his eyes at the pitiful scene before him. He looked over at Launch and smiled, then gave her a thumbs up. It was something he had seen on the television. Then he noticed she was still bound.

"Are you gonna untie me, or what?" Launch held out her bound hands.

"Oh. Sorry." Raditz removed the rope, and Launch rubbed her wrists.

"Thanks, Big Guy! How's about we take care of the rest of 'em?" The blond grinned at Raditz and winked. "Or maybe you can take care of 'em for me."

As they looked over toward Mr. Black's vehicle, they saw a single goon standing just outside of it. He appeared nervous, but shook his fist at them despite it. "This isn't the last you'll see of us, just you wait!" With that, he hopped in and the odd craft took to the sky and shot off.

Raditz moved to follow, but Launch grabbed hold of his arm. As she did, a breeze lifted up a strand of his long hair and it blew blew directly into her face. "Don't worry abo-abou- ACHOOO!"

POOF!

Before Raditz' eyes, Launch transformed from a loudmouth and bossy blond to a meek and innocent bluenette. He could hardly believe what he had just witnessed, but then he supposed it was just something special about the people of this planet.

"Oh, so that's how that works!" Raditz grinned and scratched the back of his head while staring at her.

Launch looked up at him, confusion etched upon her face. "Oh, you're back! Are you hungry? I'm sorry if I upset you earlier…" She trailed off as she headed inside the domicile, which had remained untouched, luckily.

As he started to follow her, Raditz heard an odd noise. He dug his hand into his pocket and when he pulled it back out, he produced his scouter. Somehow, it had started to work again; he could hear someone on the other side. When he placed the device to his ear, he could hear Vegeta yelling.

"Raditz, you Low Class idiot! I know you're listening! Answer me, now!"

"Tch, I-" Raditz suddenly realized what he was about to do: he was going to submit to Vegeta's will yet again. The hardened warrior could feel his freedom slipping through his fingertips as he contemplated reporting in, like he always did.

Off in the distance, the sun was setting and Raditz stopped to watch the view; it warmed his cold, dead heart. Suddenly, he removed the scouter from his ear and stared at it.

His mind raced as he thought about going back to his old life, following orders from Nappa, Vegeta, Zarbon, and Frieza. The thoughts brought bile to the back of his throat and bored a hole in his stomach. "Fuck that…"

Raditz threw the screaming device up into the air and shot a single ki blast at it, causing it to explode. The blast created sparks of various colors before the pieces began to fall to the ground like confetti.

"Oh, fireworks! That's so fun, you sure are talented, Mister Raditz." Launch stood in the doorway of the house and stared at him with her innocent eyes. "I'm making you a meatloaf, hope you're hungry. Would you like a beer?"

The once cruel and even sometimes animalistic Saiyan looked at her and allowed himself to soften. "Yeah, I'll be in soon, go in before you catch a cold." His tail waved her away in a gentle manner.

The bluenette smiled at him before nodding and heading back into the capsule house. She closed the door behind her to give him some privacy and keep the chilly night air out.

Alone once again, Raditz stared at the stars and smiled. He thought of his old allies and how pissed they would be at him, but he didn't care at that moment. Right here, right now, he had a task. Those men said they would come back; if they found the girl he saw now, who knows what they would do to her.

Raditz refused to let any harm come to her. This was his new purpose and he was going to fulfill it the best he could. Whether his old friends showed up or not, he would defend her until the very end. She deserved it.


End file.
